Mercer ‘shock’ correction

March 22, 2016

A Plan for Life study – reported on Investment News NZ (IN NZ) this week – showing a dramatic plunge in Mercer NZ retail funds under management in the December 2015 quarter was incorrect due to faulty input data.

According to a Mercer spokesperson, the group’s NZ funds under management actually grew above 3 per cent during the final quarter of 2015 rather than the -8.7 per cent decline reported in the Plan for Life survey.

“The error was in the September FUM figure, which should’ve been $4,149 million not $4,658 million, which means an increase of $128 million or 3.09 per cent for the December 15 quarter,” the Mercer spokesperson said.

Mercer picked up the mistake – based on data it originally supplied to Plan for Life – after publication of the IN NZ story.

IN NZ subsequently published a revised version of the Plan for Life article.